Centrum Glacies Session 152: Yolanda
Week 151 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party meets Quinn’s fiancé Yolanda and learns even more about the intrigue circling them all.
Like my other campaign, I’m turning this one into a book series. You can check out the first one here.
Anyway, just like my other campaign, there is a whole lot going on and I don’t want to elaborate on every moving piece in the story. You can see the whole thing in the book series.
!!!Trigger Warning!!!
This story deals with a cruel world with some horrific twists. So far, this campaign has featured: Animals getting killed, Genocide, lots of body horror, evil cults, brainwashing, torture, psychological warfare, child abuse, and slavery.
Most recently, the party helped cause a complete planetary genocide. Save a few survivors, no one remains from that world. They are still grappling with this unfathomable loss of life and their role in making it happen. It is clear that their suffering is far from over. They can only hope they don’t cause untold pain to an even more untold more.
!!!Final Trigger Warning!!!
After an eventful day that left them humiliated, weakened, and ultimately defeated, the party rested in the desert ruins that had once been Teztcal’s home. The Dragon wanted to be out of that place. With a lot of facts revealed about the Adventurer’s Guild and how it had manipulated them into helping start a war between two empires, the group had a lot to think about and only 9 days remained until a wedding that they needed to work security for.
As they used the teleporter to return to Zrin, the group wondered why they were needed for a wedding at all. Even more so by Tim’s personal request. That one was the only Mythril Adventurer in Guild history to ever step down from the coveted position. And the group to this day knew little about him.
The portal took them to the center of Zrin. And there, the Orc Wurthu was waiting for them. The group spoke to the Orc, asking permission to travel to where the nobles lived in the city. He granted that permission, but made sure to remind the party that there would be dire consequences if Teztcal acted up while they were up there.
Jyona had a very sudden switch up in voice tone and behavior that only Obrom picked up on. She began fawning over Teztcal like a child and trying to sweep off dirt. The behavior was similar to how her noble family had treated her. And behaviors she had learned in turn copied.
Another Split Up
Teztcal didn’t mind being pampered in this way. He was an orphan after all and hadn’t been raised by his mother at all. So this was a new and welcome experience for him.
But before they could leave for the Noble’s Floating City, Zinbella made a surprise appearance. She demanded that Trent come with her at once. She didn’t even give him a chance to object before she whisked him away from the rest of the group. None of them knew what she wanted with him, outside of Druid Business.
Teztcal, Kisara, Obrom, and Jyona proceeded to the warp panel that would take them up to the Noble’s Floating City. And Obrom, still trapped in his Demon form felt more than a little worried. Wurthu hadn’t acted like their failure would create a problem, but the party having had a string of really bad days, didn’t want to leave anything to chance.
They reached the first check point with several guards watching their every step. Jyona had another switch up. All her training as a child paid off. She was capable of Acting like nobility out of nowhere. Knowing exactly the tone and inflection to use in her voice, she demanded to see Quinn Cambion.
A Meeting with a Witch
After a short series of questions from the guards, the soldiers let the party pass. But not before warning them that they will do something if Teztcal misbehaves. Turned out his reputation preceded him. Or more likely his crimes had been reported to high command of the Zrin Soldiers and so they all knew his face and mannerisms.
After passing a second checkpoint of soldiers, the party found what this level of security protected. At the center of this floating series of islands and carved into a cave, sat the actual homes of the Zrin Nobles. They hadn’t taken more than a few steps before the party encountered Xilbella. They had a short discussion with her about Obrom’s condition. She also deduced where Trent happened to be, explaining that she had expected her sister to arrive soon.
Xilbella had one other piece of troubling news for them. The guild has been trying to recruit her as a platinum adventurer partially due to the time she had worked with Persephine and Engelique, but also because her one of her triplet sisters already had earned that rank.
Jyona warned her against becoming a Platinum Adventurer, but she was already aware of the trap the badge possesses. After all, she was a powerful Wizard in her own right. The Guild wouldn’t have just given her a Platinum Rank otherwise.
Quinn and Yolanda
Xilbella left having business of her own here. The party focused on why they had come here and found Quinn’s household quickly. Buildings were labeled by first name as all nobility shared the same last name. They were permitted to enter as Adriel allowed them in. And she quickly shut the door behind them.
Jyona kept up her nobility act. Something that the two nobles in the greeting hall as well as Obrom picked up on. Given that Quinn was one of the two in the household, it was obvious from the get go who the second might be. And so, to avoid being seen as rude, the group introduced themselves Yolanda, his bride to be.
There was a lot of tension in the room. Rumors had abounded that Quinn had been sleeping with Adriel. And he had done nothing to dispel those rumors when the party had met him. In fact the group was convinced they were true. And the intensity in the air only made that more clear.
Yet neither Teztcal nor Jyona picked up on this tension. They were too dense to see it even though the hostility in the air was thick enough to cut with several knives. Obrom, who was aware of such things spotted every thread. And Kisara thanks to the power of of an artifact that boosted her intelligence saw things as they were.
Yoladna definitely knew about the tryst between her to-be husband and Adriel. She couldn’t have been more obvious about it by sending them off on an “errand”. Adriel for her part remained quiet, but for a small second her mask fell and she glared daggers at Yolanda. If the Noblewoman felt threatened she didn’t show it.
Yolanda Unmasked
As soon as the two were gone, Yolanda let out a sigh of relief. And then she vented to the party. Turned out she wasn’t bothered by her fiancé and Adriel having an affair at all. In fact she supported this behavior because their marriage was political in nature and Quinn’s libido was too much for her to handle. Rather, what had her on edge was that in public she had no choice but to act outraged.
The poor woman was trapped in a tense situation, and took thing even further. Her own family hated her. She was a bastard child who hadn’t even been raised a proper noble. Despite the fact that Quinn was an important figure, neither her mother or father would be at the wedding. Reading between the lines, it was clear to Obrom that others didn’t see it as possible for Quinn to limit himself to one woman.
The conversation moved to a slightly related topic, and Jyona found herself caught off guard. Yolanda asked Jyona about where she was from. And once she was satisfied with her answer, she asked, while apologizing for rudeness if the Half-Elf was also a bastard. When Jyona asked why she would assume that, Yolanda explained it was all in her mannerisms. Specifically watching how other people behaved in the room as well as an eagerness to correct others behavior.
Teztcal was confused and upset that Yolanda kept calling Jyona a bastard. That seemed callous and cruel, especially to someone he considered a friend. Kisara cleared the air for her father. And explained that in this context, bastard meant a child born out of wedlock. The Dragon didn’t see why this distinction mattered, but trusted his daughter on this matter.
Visitors Expected and Not
An alert in the household let Yolanda know that her fiancé and Adriel were coming back. And so she begged the party to keep everything they had discussed under wraps. When they two came back Yolanda excused herself and went on her own errand. Before she could leave though, that errand barged its way into the room. Yinbella, the third of the triplets had forced her way to this place so she could prepare to perform at the wedding.
After being ushered out the door, Yolanda followed her. She had a look of exhaustion on her face as she left. And not just because of the stress of planning a wedding.
Teztcal didn’t understand any of what had just been discussed. And completely missed the part where they were not supposed to repeat any of it. Instead he made the room even more tense than before when he mentioned something about Adriel and Quinn “napping” together.
Adriel, being perceptive of course pieced together that Yolanda was actually is ok with her fiancé sleeping around. He had lied to her for the sake of keeping up appearances. This infuriated her. The mask she wore of being a well behaved servant girl collapsed. Instead she glared at everyone in the greeting room and stormed off to a room off to the side. The servants quarters most likely.
That aside, the party spoke with Quinn while noticing the potent silence that had filled the tension. He explained that while uncommon, Obrom’s condition was far from unheard of. But he had never heard of a Demon being a guest of honor at a wedding. In the end though, this was his wedding and so he didn’t care.
As their meeting with Quinn came to a close, he was alerted that the party had someone looking for them. After revealing that the house had a scrying stone that allowed communication with the guards at the checkpoints. Quinn clearly had a lot on his mind and barely even said goodbye as the group left.
Meeting with Tim
They met with Tim soon after. He was dressed differently than before and it took Jyona a moment to recognize him at all. After asking where Trent was, and what had happened to Obrom, he took the party away from the Nobility Residential district where too many eyes and ears were watching. Instead he took them to one of the most secure places in the world: The pocket Dimension of Mythril Adventurers.
The party had a lot of questions for him. And he answered to the best of his ability. At least he tried to, because they were not alone in this conversation for long. Another Mythril Adventurer joined them. It was the last one they wanted to see: Mortina. Her appearance gave Tim pause and terrified Obrom and Jyona into silence. Teztcal however perhaps out of ignorance waved and greeted her like he would a friend.
Mortina’s Explanation
After the awkward greeting, Mortina informed the group that they had nothing to fear from her as she did not perceive them as a threat. And that meant outside this place too. She had no intention of causing them harm if she ran into them out on the Abyssal Continent.
After all that, she explained the rest of what had happened between the Southern and Imperial Empires. The Imperials were about to suffer from a succession crisis. And the prince who had been slain was hated by his family. They killed him to ensure he would not inherit the throne And used the party as a scapegoat all the while. Worse, the war with the Southerners was part of a ploy to placate the populace while reducing the possibility of rebellion during that succession crisis.
Tim said that what he was was the truth. And she had no reason to lie. Asking one last question towards Tim about why he had come to this place at all, she left. And as she faded, Tim had two other important matters to discuss with the group.
Information from Tim
The first was about the Southern Continent. He explained that that Empire had been built on the backs of Dark Elves who had been turned into livestock for Vampires. There was a lot of bad blood and even a clear reason that The Cult of Obsidian didn’t have trouble recruiting people. There was also deep racism within the nation that made it easy for the Imperials to have someone to blame for their own insecurities. Hence the popularity of the war.
As for the second issue, he revealed a little about himself. Tim was part of a clan hidden from records that possessed a dark power. He didn’t tell the group what that power was, but promised to tell them more after the wedding. His reasoning was that their enemy couldn’t be alerted to Tim being nearby or they would run.
Jyona was barely listening to the second part despite how important it was to her knowledge goals. Instead she was suffering from inner turmoil wondering if she had been raised in a bubble that hid her from all the horrible things happening on the Imperial Continent.
Wrap Up
The wedding is soon, and a lot seems to be happening behind the scenes. But what is Tim not telling them? And what will those ramifications be? And what about Trent? Will he be back in time?